Facebook shares news: Papua New Guinea shuts platform for one month

Ilona-Billington
May 29, 2018 2 min read

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Facebook shares closed lower last week ahead of news Papa New Guinea is shutting down the social media platform for one month, to give it time to find and remove fake users. Papa New Guinea’s Communication Minister also said the country could look into creating its own social media site.

Facebook shares ended the US Friday session down 0.54% at $184.92. The stock is also in the red in pre-market trading.

Facebook shutdown

Papa New Guinea’s communication minister Sam Basil revealed in an interview with the Papa New Guinea Post Courier, that the country’s Communications and Information Technology Department is set to implement a month-long Facebook shutdown to research and analyse its use by citizens.

“The time will allow information to be collected to identify users that hide behind fake accounts, users that upload pornographic images, users that post false and misleading information on Facebook to be filtered and removed,” Basil said.

“This will allow genuine people with real identities to use the social network responsibly,” Basil added.

Facebook has updated its own data privacy policy, not only across Europe due to the new GDPR online privacy rules, but also globally. The move comes as the social media site works to improve its data privacy rules and reputation, particularly in the wake of the Cambridge Analytica scandal.

Facebook replacement?

While Papa New Guinea works on gaining a better understanding of how its own citizens use the platform and identifying fake users, Basil also suggested the country could create its own platform.

“I will now work closely with the Police for them to be properly trained and informed to fully enforce the Cyber Crime Act,” Basil said. He added that there were many positives about Facebook for his countrymen to enjoy.

“We can also look at the possibility of creating a new social network site for PNG citizens to use with genuine profiles as well,” Basil added. “If there need be then we can gather our local applications developers to create a site that is more conducive for Papua New Guineans to communicate within the country and abroad as well,”

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